Meditation, Organ Development, and Archangel Michael's Mission

GA 266I — 5 May 1909, Berlin

Esoteric Lesson

Record A

We want to discuss what effect our meditation life has when we perform the meditations in the right way.

Between morning and evening, our four bodies are united, and the I and the astral body influence the etheric body and the physical body through thinking, feeling, and willing.

For example, we form a mental image of a rose by seeing it, we feel it is beautiful, and we perform an act of will by picking it. Through this mental image, feeling, and willing, we stimulate our etheric body and also our physical body. Through every mental image, feeling, and act of will, we make an impression on the physical body, whether we perceive it or not; this is the case with every normal human being. It is different with animals, but we will not discuss that here.

Above all, it is also different for esotericists. When they immerse themselves in meditation, something else happens. Meditations are designed by the masters of wisdom and harmony of sensations in such a way that they only stimulate the etheric body; the physical body is switched off; only the etheric brain vibrates, while the physical brain remains calm.

This allows the etheric body to retroactively imprint its meditative experiences on the astral body, thereby developing the organs it needs. And this in turn has a healing effect on the physical body.

We can illustrate this with a simple example. When someone focuses their attention on a shiny object, they can also achieve a state of physical disengagement. The etheric body becomes free. But because there is now no meditative material to flow into it, it becomes accessible to all spiritual influences in its environment, both higher and lower, good and evil. This is something rather base, whereas the self-conscious switching off of the physical body through meditation is something noble. Has this always been so?

No, in ancient times the initiator drew the etheric body out of the physical body of his disciple in order to impress upon him the experiences of the supersensible worlds. In all degrees, from simple trance to three-and-a-half-day death sleep, it was always the hierophant who conveyed everything to the consciousness of the disciples, whereas today the disciple himself consciously tears out and lifts out the etheric body and allows the teachings of the masters to flow into himself. Why is this so?

We must remember that different high spiritual beings direct the destiny of the earth at different times. From about the 15th century onwards, the leadership was in the hands of the being we call the Archangel Gabriel. His task was to bring about, through the right direction of births, the gradual formation in human beings of an organ located in the front sinus above the root of the nose. This organ is not directly perceptible physically, but anyone who could examine a corpse from today and one from, say, the 13th century would find differences in the development and convolutions of the brain at the place mentioned. The archangel Gabriel gradually prepared this organ in humans so that they would be able to receive the message of the archangel Michael, who replaced him in 1879.

Through this new organ, Michael will impress the message of theosophy upon human beings, not in a direct way, but in such a way that he will allow his wisdom to flow into the etheric bodies of human beings through the great white lodge, and from there it must flow self-consciously into the organ designated for it and then take effect in the etheric body.

Gabriel worked [during his last reign] on humans during the period of conception and birth. The human brain used to be different; it always received fresh impulses, so to speak. It no longer receives these; instead, it has the new organ, which humans are to develop independently. Now, what happens to those who do not do this, who do not want to accept the message of the archangel [Michael]? Those who make themselves receptive to the message are ready to cooperate in the development of humanity and the earth in the right way, and the esotericist should always set this high, ideal goal before his soul in all modesty, but also with all determination, and become more and more conscious of his high and responsible task.

The others, who do not use their organ, cause it to dry up, for every organ that is not used degenerates. In doing so, they withdraw from the work they have to do. This work will be done anyway, Archangel Michael will see to that – but in a different way than it would have been done by human beings.

Whenever a person shirks a task, the spiritual world is called upon to perform it. When the earth passes into the Jupiter state, the task assigned to it during this period of development must be completed. Let us unfold the great picture of the future that will present itself when the earth is ripe for the Jupiter state. Through the people who have worked correctly, it will become a whole part of the universe. be spiritualized, and these people will live in a wonderful paradise.

But through the people who have allowed their organs to dry up, a part of the earth, like a small core, so to speak, will harden and shrink, and the people who live on it will not perceive the others; they will not be there for them. They are not ready to enter the Jupiter state independently and will therefore be carried over in the bosom of spiritual beings; and it will then become apparent to them how difficult it is not to have kept pace with development. Human beings have only this earthly period to develop themselves toward freedom and, through it, toward love, and we should draw strength for this work from our meditations. Sooner or later we will come to know the spiritual worlds that surround us, through our meditation; but we must always remember that this should be done with the right attitude, not out of curiosity, which we so readily call thirst for knowledge, but in order to help humanity progress toward freedom and love.

Record B

Since the 15th century, through the archangel Gabriel, an organ has been prepared in the front of the head between conception and birth that enables people of the present time to receive the influences of the spiritual world. This organ is prepared, but it is up to the individual to bring it into action. When they do so, the following process takes place: Through meditation, etc., the etheric part of the head is expelled (as in hypnosis), and this etheric head is influenced by Michael; when it returns, the etheric body acts on the astral body, causing the healing powers of the exercises to flow back to the physical body.